Judyluvs's Profile
Any memories of "poor people food" from your childhood that you still crave?
Mom made many frugal dishes for us: "beefaroni" - browned ground beef mixed with cooked elbow macaroni and bound with lots of ketchup. Beefy "gravy" - browned ground beef with green peas added to water thickened with cornstarch with a dash of soy sauce for seasoning served over white rice. Spam fried rice. Braised chicken gizzards/chicken feet. Custard-like steamed beaten eggs and water. Sauteed shredded cabbage with bacon. The easiest meal was either a fried overeasy egg with soysauce over rice or a just a teaspoon of bacon grease and soy sauce stirred into a bowl of hot white rice.
Where to buy quality Vanilla Beans in bulk?
Sahadi, Kalustan, D'vine Taste
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Kalustyan's
123 Lexington Ave, New York, NY 10016
Best Fried Clams/Calamari in Brooklyn?
L&B Spumoni Gardens has excellent calamari.
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L&B Spumoni Gardens
2725 86th St, Brooklyn, NY 11223
Stauffer's Chocolate Covered Graham Stars
Could anyone let me know whereabouts in Brooklyn or Manhattan I could pick up some Stauffer's Chocolate Covered Graham Stars cookies? I saw them for sale in Staten Island the other day but couldn't carry any back to Brooklyn with me.
Fried whole belly clams
Maybe in the City Island area? Had nice steamers at the Lobster House. It came down to a choice of steamed or fried and they serve a gigantic portion there (at a price.)
Mushrooms in quantity
Thanks for the suggestions. I just wanted to update that I did find a great source for fresh mushrooms in Staten Island. There's a large asian grocery, named simply as "Asian Food Market" on 1801 South Avenue in Staten Island. They have large trays of shitake, white button and oyster mushrooms plus several other varieties of Japanese and Korean mushrooms too. (The six mushroom saute that I made was heavenly!)
The place is quite large and has all the asian specific receipe ingredients on offer, plus a bbq meats station and a small bakery goods area with coffee shop seating. The strip mall location is a bit desolate but you can certainly fill up a shopping cart there!
Best Rugelach in NYC/ Tri State Area...Oy! I give up!
I've had rugelach like that from Korn's Bakery (Kosher) in Brooklyn. There are apparently several locations in the Midwood/Borough Park area of Brooklyn. The chocolate filling is best, but there are also rugelach made in cinnamon and maybe a raspberry flavor which I only bought once. Nice cakes and breads too.
Prune Danish?
Famous Kosher Bakery in Staten Island (2208 Victory Blvd) makes a standard and sturdy prune danish - the filling was quite generous and they take special orders.
Mushrooms in quantity
I've been cooking meals for a friend and he loves mushrooms of all types. Any amount that gets cooked is eaten up way faster than I can keep stocked. Anyone have advice on where I can get mushrooms in quantity versus buying the usual small flats that are available in the grocery stores? Manhattan, Brooklyn & Staten Island are my shopping locales and a price break would be great too - thanks all.
Prune Danish?
Went back to re-supply on the prune danish (they are $3.00 each; tasty yet pricey in quantity.) Shared a slice of the the powdered sugar Napoleon that had excellent creme custard and tried some cherry-cheese strudel ($6.00 for a 4" by 5" slice) that was a little dry but with quite a generous filling of cheese and some cherries.
Looking up prune danish makers has become a hobby as they simply are less popular these days.
Prune Danish?
Just picked up some prune danish for a friend. Nice place and will be going back.
Most frightening food you've seen lately?
Goodness, it looks like a mutant marine "balut" egg.
I saw an old episode of Alton Brown's "Feasting on Asphalt - Episode 4:California or Bust" and one of the stops in AZ had a bunch of Navajo grill foods being prepped where two foods seemed questionable: grilled intestines stuffed with something and plain beef stomach fat. Perhaps tasty to some - just don't go asking too many questions as to what's on your plate!
Need Birthday Cake-PURPLE FROSTING! Help!
Well, the other day I had picked up a nice cake from Villabate Pasticceria in Brooklyn (http://www.villabate.net/about_us) that was sort of purple. It was a raspberry mousse cake; mostly made of a lavender-ish shaded fruity cream and a tiny amount of chocolate cake in there too. Topped with whole blackberries and raspberries and a fruit glaze. Down side to it was that the girl told me it was blueberry and I was looking for a non chocolate cake...yet they do make lovely cakes there.
Jerk Chicken in Flatbush, Brooklyn
Actually, it's "Fisherman's Cove" in Newkirk Plaza.
Dumplings near World Tong
I recently tried two of the soups from this place: I had the lamb noodle and also the oxtail noodle. I asked for them to go and they packed up soup in containers and the noodles separately in small foam carryout boxes. A side order of fried dumplings was pretty unimpressive. The soup was pretty good, with decent amount of the two meats floating as bits in the broth. There was some unidentifiable chopped vegetable added to the broth that I didn't care for: it had an off flavor and clung to everything, the container, the chopsticks. I might ask if they can leave it out if I go back. The noodles were white and light, the same appearance as over-boiled spaghetti, but so much better in the texture! The place was clean and still new when I was there, with buckets of chopsticks and utensils at each table and hot chili oil pots on the side. Reasonable prices in the $6-$7 range.
Where can I find steamed Chinese buns?
I was just at this market and also saw the bag of folded style mantou buns in the display case. (Elizabeth Street entrance, immediate right hand side). The receipt for my purchase lists the name "DELUXE MEAT MARKET INC." 81 Elizabeth Street, NY, NY 10013. There's a phone number, but as it is an all Asian staff, there may be a language barrier with no guarantee that they'll be able to interact over the phone. 212-925-5766
Polenta question
I'm sorry, but I have no idea about how "Flexitarian Table's polenta with corn and roasted tomatoes" is served up. If your Trader Joe log of polenta is already formed, then, I'm thinking that it's precooked for convenience? Most secondary polenta recipes (where you're not eating a freshly cooked free-form serving of it) work with the startchy firmness that polenta has once it's set up. You might try mashing it with a little chicken stock to free it from the formed shape and then nuking it to see if it will loosen up and using it from that stage in another recipe.
Popsicle Brand Famous Face Bars in Manhattan?
Most ice cream trucks will carry these kind of pops. Oh, how I'd like to try one of those "Snoopy" pops!
Fermented black (soy) beans??
If you're stuck trying to find fermented black beans - why not try using the Lee Kum Kee brand of black bean paste? It's usually found in supermarkets in the Asian foods section and can pretty good as a premade substitute. I think it even has garlic already in it.
The beans are salted, so do not require refrigeration in their original state. They can be sold in plastic pouches or the brand I'm familiar with is in a cardboard cannister with a plastic lining inside.
Best Jamaican Beef Patties (areas or restaurants)?
Well, you do have to consider that usually the beef patties and toppings were being ordered by big, hungry guys looking to add something to their snack of the moment... and with a couple of slices! Since I personally can't handle spicy foods very well, the separate ones where the persons added on pickled jalepenos and a (seemingly endless) shake of red pepper flakes made me watch in food prep fascination.
Best Jamaican Beef Patties (areas or restaurants)?
I occasionally give in to the craving for a pizza shop beef patty with sauce and cheese. I'm sure it's deadly, but it's so juicy and tasty! I've seen others who order the patties add on extra things like pepperoni, sausage, grilled onions, jalepenos and red pepper flakes.
Best non-Buffalo wings you ever had ?
I made almost the same asian style wings the other day with only a few changes: I didn't think to add garlic and will have to think of it next time. I used salt, black pepper, light soy, dark soy, oyster sauce, hoisin sauce, toasted sesame oil, a dash of rice wine, a squirt of ketchup and some plum sauce. It was five pounds of wings and I left them to marinate in a bag overnight. Cooked them in oven at 325 degrees for half an hour, turning once, then finished off in broiler at 375 degrees, turning once.
Brining - how to make it less of a pain in the...
Perhaps to cool a hot brine down, you could pour it from one container to another so that it loses heat. Ideally, you could pour it from one container into another container that's immersed in a sink full of iced water. This might be tedious, but the heat would eventually transfer out of the brine sooner so that you could use it. Also pouring a hot liquid into several smaller containers or into a shallow pan would disperse heat faster. Consider setting up a fan to blow air across to cool things down too.
A Question for Asian Cooks
On occasion (usually it was for Chinese New Year meals) my Dad would fry up some rice vermicelli for decorative platter garnish. It was super fun to watch the stuff sizzle and expand, but it's pretty tasteless though. We also fry up these colorful things called "shrimp chips" that are much better - if you can find crab flavor chips, we actually prefer that type now. Here's the first link that I found regarding the snacks:
http://starbulletin.com/2006/08/23/features/story03.html
Where is the Best Dim Sum in Manhattan? [Moved from The Best board]
Maybe it was Jin Fong? 20 Elizabeth St 2nd Fl
New York, NY 10013-4802
Phone: (212) 964-5256
Tacos in NYC
There's a place in Brooklyn called "Tacos El Rey" (I thought it was maybe "Tacos Del Rey"?). It's near the intersection of Coney Island Avenue and Brighton Beach Avenue and I only saw it because I was taking that route on the B68 bus home one day...but it was good enough to go back to. The Google search I just did shows the address as: Tacos El Rey, 3168 Coney Island Ave, Brooklyn, 11235 Nearest intersection: Coney Island Ave & Brighton Beach Avenue, Tel (718) 769-0116
I've had the chicken soup: nice and simple with vegetables and a whole poached chicken leg in it, a dinner platter of lengue (tongue) with green sauce, a dinner platter of porkchops mexican style: 2 chops covered with a sauce that had onions and jalepeno peppers in it. I shared the Mexican style porkchops with a friend and she thought it was very tasty. I hate overcooked porkchops that are too tough to chew, so these were really good because the meat was very tender. I've also had an order of lengue tacos that was delicious. I'm a wimp and can't really tolerate spicy heat in foods, so I have to say the green sauce and the mexican style sauces were both a bit too hot for me, but should be fine for the average Mexican food consumer. Tacos are 2 for $5.00, dinner platters range from $7.00 to $12.00.
Rice Pudding Experts-----Help!!!
Is the rice pudding thick enough to retain a round shape? How about wrapping a portion in a piece of plastic wrap, then twisting the plastic untill the pudding forms a ball and tie-ing off the the packet until it sets? It might need further chilling, or after forming it, roll the ball into a coating like a hand dipped candy truffle.
Bed Bath and Beyond 20% Coupons
Sounds like great customer service at BB&B. If nothing else, they get you into their store TWICE and they can then maybe catch you in a good mood to buy more or you'll pick up items that you may haver overlooked the previous trip. Not to mention that as a "brand", BB&B then stays in your mind until the time that you pick up your items.
Dried Oysters
There's various shops in Chinatown selling nothing but traditional dried foodstuff items like shrimp, bean/seeds/roots, mushrooms and other edible fungi. Usually there'll be bins of items either outside or visible from the street.
